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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand and Water 10-06-09 NOTICE OF MEETING AND AGENDA ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE October 6, 2009 —10:40 a.m. Agricultural Service & Education Center CALL TO ORDER 1960 8 th Avenue, Baldwin, WI ROLL CALL REVIEW OF AGENDA CONSENT AGENDA (Unless separation of an item is requested, all will be adopted in one motion.) 1. Vouchers 2. Minutes of previous meeting — September 1, 2009 3. Date of next meeting — November 3, 2009 LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT Agency reports FSA NRCS DNR RC &D West Central Area — Business meeting October 29 NEW BUSINESS: Director's report WLWCA - conference Wildlife Damage Program — Plan of Administration Grant — TMDL — Lake Mallalieu/Willow River Cost Share fund — transfer Animal Waste ordinance — amendments County Farm — cropland lease 2009 SWRM (Soil & Water Resource Management) — reimbursement request OLD BUSINESS: 2008 Strategic Initiatives 2010 budget PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS: Director's report Kinnickinnic — bark beetle — update Bow hunting — Homestead Parklands OLD BUSINESS: 2008 Strategic Initiatives 2010 budget ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE ADJOURN SUBMITTED BY: Robert Heise DATE: September 23, 2009; amended September 29, 2009 COPIES TO: COUNTY BOARD OFFICE NEWS MEDIA /NOTICE BOARD COUNTY CLERK COMMITTEE MEMBERS (Items may be taken in different order) *Additions /Changes /Corrections DRAFT ST. CROIX COUNTY LAND & WATER CONSERVATION COMMITTEE Agricultural Service & Education Center, Baldwin, WI October 6, 2009 Members Present: Ken Graf, Linda Luckey, Buzz Marzolf, Bill Peavey, Gene Ruetz Members Absent: Dan Raebel Staff Present: Director Bob Heise, I & E Activities Specialist Aleisha Miller, Parks Operations Manager Dave Larson, Administrative Assistant Arlene Lier Others Present: Robert Forrest -FSA, Steve Pernsteiner -NRCS Ruetz called the meeting to order at 10:50 a.m. Marzolf made motion, seconded by Peavey, to approve the agenda. Carried. CONSENT AGENDA Peavey made motion, seconded by Ruetz, to adopt the consent agenda approving the (1) Land & Water Conservation and Parks vouchers, (2) September 1, 2009 meeting minutes, and (3) setting the next committee meeting for November 3, 2009. Carried. LAND & WATER CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT FARM SERVICE AGENCY (FSA) Bob Forrest- County Executive Director reported: • Because of low milk prices received by dairy farmers, our MILC (Milk Income Loss Contract Program) rate was $1.64 /cwt for milk marketed during the month of August. The FSA office recently issued approximately $275,000 in MILK program benefits to St. Croix County dairy producers. • The Secretary of Agriculture has designated 31 WI Counties as Primary Natural Disaster Areas. This includes St. Croix County because of forage losses during 2009. Emergency operating loans will be available to those who qualify. A 2009 crop disaster program will also be implemented, but not until 12 months from now. • Annual Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) annual rental payments are being issued as we speak. • We had 49 CRP contracts that expired on September 30, which includes 1,558 acres. • St. Croix County has about 18,500 acres currently enrolled in CRP. • Next week FSA will be issuing the final payments to producers who enrolled in the 2009 commodity program. NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE (NRCS) Steve Pernsteiner- District Conservationist reported: The First sign up for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) ended September 30, 2009. St. Croix County had eight applications for about 2,500 acres. We will rank the applications and should know in November which applicants are selected for funding. These are for five -year contracts. Next ranking period will be in January. Producers can apply at any time during the year. NRCS is also taking applications for the Environmental Quality Incentives (EQIP) and Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program (WHIP). It appears in the budget, currently being worked on by Congress, both programs will receive adequate funding. Postcards have been sent to all landowners in the State Acres for Wildlife (SAFE) program. We received many phone calls in response to the postcard and we received 3 new contracts. This is the program to plant prairie cover on land in the western part of St. Croix County. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES (DNR) No report. RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT (RC &D) Ruetz reported that he was unable to attend the last two meetings. The last meeting was held at Turtle Lake. RC &D toured the Greenway Energy Inc. project (treating whey and convert to methane). Both Eco Lab and RC &D plan to invest in the project, assuming adequate funding is available. Waste Management is willing to invest in a digester if they get the full hauling rights. Pernsteiner added that Brian Brezinski -RC &D Grazing Specialist conducted two pasture walks (one at UW- River Falls on grazing demo and the other was Ranchers). WEST CENTRAL AREA Heise reported that the business meeting/Conservation Speaking Contest will be held on October 29 at the Plaza, Eau Claire. Aleisha Miller will be a Speaking Contest judge. Heise and Ruetz will also be attending. NEW BUSINESS Director's Report Heise reported: • Staff attended training offered by DATCP on administering the Working Lands Initiative. There will be a fair amount of work to be done by LWCD. If landowners are going to participate in the program (Working Lands Initiative), they will have to follow all Ag performance standards in order to receive the tax credit. That would include conservation plan, nutrient management plan, and some of our other prohibitions we have in our state performance standards. LWCD staff is required to conduct compliance evaluations with landowners involved with this program once every four years. • LWCD staff worked with Chippewa County staff on conducting a training session for other county LWCD staff and Madison agency staff to evaluate sites on our state agriculture performance standards. Training involved looking at a farm site and going through the process on how to evaluate and interpret the performance standards. Approximately 40 people attended. WLWCA Conference The conference will be held at LaCrosse on December 9 -10. Heise and Ruetz plan to attend the conference. Wildlife Damage Program — Plan of Administration Heise reported that the amended document has been sent to the State for review. There have been no comments received from the State. If there are comments, they will be presented at the next LWCC meeting. The updated plan needs to be approved by December 31, 2009. Grant — TMDL — Lake Mallalieu /Willow River This grant was in our budget (stimulus funds) to develop implementation plan. The WDNR is working on an agreement with us for developing the plan (approximately $25,000). Cost Share fund — transfer We had a request from Rock County looking for additional bonding dollars. St. Croix County had some projects that did not materialize as planned. Motion by Peavey, seconded by Marzolf, to authorize Chair Ruetz to sign document to transfer $15,000 from our Soil & Water Resource Management account to Rock County. Carried. Animal Waste Ordinance — Amendments Heise reported that after LWCC review, a meeting was set up with the Planning & Zoning staff to review the proposed amendments with the (Animal Waste Ordinance). Staff offered some suggestions as documented in the tracked version of the DRAFT ordinance. There was some discussion on how this ordinance lines up with the Working Lands Initiative program. Staff will research and review. County Farm — cropland lease Heise reported that County Technician Jeff Lueck and the renter (Don Anderson) met to discuss the conservation plan and the 590 nutrient management plan to be in compliance with the lease agreement. Through this planning process, we took land out of production around wetlands and steeper slopes which will be planted to prairie grass. The area has been designated, GPS points are all set, had contractor spray area this year, and also mowed the area once this year to control weeds. We may give it another herbicide treatment this fall or next spring. The difference between the number of acres in the contract and the number of acres that he is cropping is 20 acres. The lease agreement should be changed because of the 20 acres that had been taken out of crop production. Committee recommended that the number of acres in the lease should be changed to reflect the cropped acres under production. Staff will adjust acreage and rental payment with the renter. 2009 SWRM (Soil & Water Resource Management) reimbursement request Heise presented the reimbursement request for staffing costs to administer the state programs. Peavey made motion, seconded by Luckey, to authorize Chair Ruetz to sign the reimbursement request in the amount of $148.531. Carried. Aleisha Miller reported on educational activities conducted for the various schools this fall. She also showed the many thank you cards she received from the students. A copy of the final Bass Lake management plan was passed around... OLD BUSINESS 2010 budget No report. PARKS DEPARTMENT NEW BUSINESS Director's Report Heise reported that staff is working on erosion issues on several trails at Homestead Parklands. Kinnickinnic — bark beetle — update Larson informed the Committee about the reoccurrence of bark beetle in the Kinnickinnic County Forest. Back in early May, Park staff removed 15 dead /dying red pines from Kinnickinnic County Forest. Since then, DNR County Forester Dahn Borh has been working with adjacent landowners to remove pines killed by bark beetle. On Friday, September 11, Larson and Borh marked an additional two dozen dead /dying red pines for removal this winter. The infestation appears to be confined to the NW corner of the forest. Discussion. Larson then updated the Committee about the ongoing habitat work at Kinnickinnic. Habitat work includes prairie establishment and oak savanna restoration. U S Fish and Wildlife ( USFWS) staff have visited the site and have offered possible financial assistance through their Private Lands Grant program. When USFWS has drafted the Private Lands Agreement, Larson will return the contract to the Committee for their review and signature. Discussion. Bow Hunting - Homestead Parklands Heise reported that this past winter, staff had discussed with the Committee the possibility of opening up the Homestead Parklands to bow hunting after the park is closed, which is November 1. Since we had very few problems with bow hunting at Glen Hills Park, we would anticipate no problems at Homestead Parklands. We will put signs up indicating the park is open to bow hunters. Peavey made motion, seconded by Ruetz, to authorize "bow hunting only" at Homestead Parklands after closing date of November 1. Carried. OLD BUSINESS 2010 budget No report. Chair Ruetz adjourned meeting at 12:14 p.m. Buzz Marzolf Secretary Arlene Lier Recording Secretary